Co-Living Brand Zolo forays into the Student Accommodation Space

Zolo, the co-living brand in India, introduces Zolo Scholar, which marks its foray into the student accommodation segment. Zolo Scholar is a new category of properties specifically designed for students with added features like extra security, common study areas and better services and amenities.

The development comes within a month after Zolo had raised $30 million in a Series B funding round led by Nexus Venture Partners and IDFC Alternatives, along with participation from Mirae Asset, a South Korea-based independent financial services group.

Zolo
already has a two-pronged model, Zolo Standard and Zolo Select to cater
to different needs of the working class. With this addition, the
company plans to capture the student sector. Currently, the Scholar
model is set across 2 cities viz. Kota and Bangalore. Zolo has 3
properties with a capacity of 400 beds, and 7 properties with a capacity
of 522 beds in Bangalore and Kota respectively.

Nikhil Sikri, Co-Founder & CEO of Zolo, commented, “We
believe student housing is a largely untapped market. Students
constitute a big chunk of our customer base and we see a lot of growth
potential in that segment. With the addition of this category, we aim to
provide affordable solutions to the housing problems of all the
sections of the society.”

Founded in 2015 with the aim to redefine the living experience in India, Zolo offers fully managed and affordable, ready to move in rooms/apartments, which offer clean spaces, homely food and caring staff. It’s a full stack brand and a platform which takes accountability of the entire customer experience. Zolo’s tech platform provides the customer, a button to manage “Life” on the phone.

Earlier this month, the company announced its entry into the Mumbai market. With a strong presence in 9 cities Bangalore, Chennai, Pune, Gurgaon, Kota, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Noida and Coimbatore, the company manages 175 properties with over 17K beds across the country.

In student accommodation space, Sequoia India-backed Stanza Living is perhaps the most funded startup, which has managed to raise funds from high-profile investors including Matrix India, Accel Partners and

Last month, Stanza Living launched Stanza Estate app, as part of its growth strategy to reach one lakh bed-capacity by 2021. The app will allow property owners, brokers, real estate consultants and developers, to partner with Stanza Living in an effective manner, to create bespoke, high-quality student accommodations.

Co-Living Startup Zolo Raises $30 Mn from Nexus Venture and IDFC Alternatives

Bangalore-based Zolo, which offers managed co-living spaces to students and professionals, has raised $30 million (~ ₹208 crore) in a Series B funding round led by existing investor Nexus Venture Partners and IDFC Alternatives, along with participation from Mirae Asset, a South Korea-based independent financial services group.

The startup will use the raised capital in expanding its footprint across the metro cities.

With this fresh funding, the valuation of Zolo is estimated to ramped up by more than $100 million.

Founded in 2015, by Akhil Sikri, Isha Choudhry, Nikhil Sikri and Sneha Choudhry, Zolo is a marketplace for property solutions like paying guest accommodation, service apartments and independent flats. The startup currently operates in Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune, Chennai and Kota and has tied up with numerous building owners and large developers for its expansion plan.

So far, Zolo has raised a total of $35 million in funding over two rounds. Prior to this, the startup had raised $5 million from Nexus Venture Partners, in January 2017.

ZoloStays will also focus on automation and rely on IoT (Internet of Things) for smart electricity and water billing in its properties. “We also look to build a stronger community through our online and offline initiatives through gamification. Customisation is another key area where we now want to focus,” said Nikhil Sikri, Zolo's co-founder.

ZoloStays, which competes with similar players like NestAway, Stanza Living, Stay Abode and Coho Dorms, claims to be India's largest company offering fully managed co-living spaces with 16,000 live beds and 50,000 locked-in beds under its two offerings -- Zolo Standard and Zolo Select.

The company claims that it has grown twelve fold since then and plans to clock 10 times growth in the next two years. It plans to boost its current staff strength of 350 people by hiring another 200-300 by the end of 2019.

The company's revenue from operations stood at Rs 27 crore for FY18 while it incurred a loss of Rs 4 crore, said Sikri to Economic Times. He added that the startup plans to clock Rs 100 crore in revenue for the next financial year.

In recent funding of co-living startups, Delhi-based Placio had raised $2 million in pre-series-A funding from Prestellar Ventures, a Singapore-based private equity

In August last year, StayAbode had raised an undisclosed amount from Anupam Mittal (CEO, People Group) and Vineet Sekhsaria (Head, Real Estate investing, Morgan Stanley) and Japanese gaming company Akatsuki Inc, in August last year.

This was followed by $10 million fund raise by Delhi headquartered Stanza Living, which was led by Sequoia India.

Zolo Raises Seed Funding from Swiss based Software Company Hitouch AG

Zolo, Indian on-demand talent marketplace where people can discover, buy and sell unique talents and skills raised undisclosed amount of seed funding from Switzerland based Software company Hitouch AG.

Hitouch AG sees an amazing opportunity of funding in India and specially the upcoming services sector. The CEO Oliver Westphal believes that Zolo can be the next revolutionary company in the sharing economy and thus makes its first investment.

Zolo connects the two parties; the service and goods providers and the folks that need these service and merchandise and acts as the intercessor, as the middleman, eliminating the headache and fuss caused by negotiations and making payments. Zolo handles the whole fussy and worrisome task so that all the entrepreneurs can focus on your core capabilities, skills, and talent and deliver quality results and surpass as professional businessmen.

Oliver Westphal, CEO, Hitouch AG, says "We see Zolo as eBay of services with a huge potential & touch millions of lives once it goes global"

With the funding amount Zolo intends to expand to other cities after establishing its base in Delhi-NCR. Also, Zolo intends to add more categories services under its kitty from current number i.e. 8. Apart from the funding, Zolo is a continuous Cash Flow model currently making 7-10% on every transaction.

“Zolo intends to capitalize on the growing trend of people looking to start their own business and work at their own convenience. We like to think of ourselves as a platform for solo entrepreneurs helping them build an income and a growing personal brand for long lasting success. We're also launching dedicated platforms like Zolo Homes, Zolo Skills, Zolo Rentals, Zolo Academy, Zolo Lounges & Zolo Eat to build a holistic environment with space, technology and marketing for solo entrepreneurs to build a business on their core competencies and leave the rest to us.” - Mr. Satayu Basu, Co-founder and CEO, Zolo.

Commenting on the launch, Mr. Manish Tahillani, Co-founder & CMO, Zolo says, “Zolo aims to revolutionize the service industry by empowering talented individuals to follow their passion and share it with the world - as we truly believe passionate people are the ones that eventually change the world. With our unique pre-packaged gig model along with other innovative features Zolo intends lead the 'service-as-a-product' revolution in India.

Zolo is a commission-based model making around 10-20% from vendors on each sale they make through the platform. By March 2017, Zolo is expecting a revenue of $12-15 Million GMV.